vaccine bill
© Sacramento BeeSteven M. Rubin, PhD. of Portola Valley, left, waits to testify against Senate Bill 277, as Ariel Loop, of Pasadena who testified in favor if SB 277 holds her son Mobius who contracted measles when he was four months old. Wednesday marked the first hearing on the bill in the Senate Health Committee.

The controversial California bill that would make vaccines mandatory passed its first committee on Wednesday with a vote of 6-2 by the Senate Health Committee, according to the Sacramento Bee.

SB277 aims to remove the "personal belief" exception that has allowed thousands of parents to avoid having their children vaccinated against highly infectious diseases such as measles and whooping cough.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, who is also a pediatrician, drew intense reaction from a packed audience that mostly seemed to disagree with the arguments put forth by pro-vaccine legislators.

From the Sacramento Bee:
"Our work is just beginning," an advocate named Karen Kain, who warned that vaccines contain "aborted fetal tissue" and formaldehyde, told the crowd. "Let's tell them our stories."

They did. After the event activists poured into the Capitol, filling multiple overflow rooms and providing much of what was around an hour and a half of testimony. Many spoke of children being injured or even killed by vaccines.

"Innocent people will die" if the bill passes, testified Terry Roark of Clayton, who said her child had died from a vaccine, her voice quavering. "Innocent children will be killed."
Crafted after the large outbreak of measles stemming from Disneyland, there were those who agreed with the aim of the bill.

From SF Gate:
Ariel Loop told lawmakers that such a plan could have prevented her child from contracting measles at Disneyland. "My infant shouldn't have had to suffer. He shouldn't, still months later, be having complications with his eyes," she said. "I shouldn't have had to fear for his life."
While the scientific community nearly universally agrees that there is no link between autism and vaccines, the pro-vaccine community has come up against formidable foes such as Robert Kennedy Jr., who has compared vaccine use to the holocaust and said that mandatory vaccination is just a way for big pharma to make money.
"They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone," Kennedy said. "This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country."
As the Washington Post reports, several graphic "shock ads" have appeared on television to oppose the bill, including the one below, which shows an infant having a seizure.

*Warning: The following video contains graphic content.